17u WWBA Day 2 notes

Editor's
note: Perfect Game recognizes that there are dozens of standout
performers at this year's 17u WWBA National Championship. The
thoughts provided below are first-hand observations from Scouting
Coordinator Jheremy Brown during the event's second day.
Although
his frame isn’t the most physical at 6-foot-2, 180-pounds, Beau
Ridgeway (2015, The Woodlands,
Texas) is able to create some very good arm speed with a short
and quick arm action. Throwing from a very low three-quarters to
almost side-arm slot, the University of Texas commit is able to
generate some serious life on his fastball with the ability to
command it well to his glove side.

His
release is very compact, creating more deception on what is already a
tough at-bat as Ridgeway worked in the 89-91 mph range in first
before settling into 87-89. With consistent, late life on the
fastball Ridgeway was able to induce numerous ground ball outs,
working both sides of the plate. Ridgeway’s changeup is the more
advanced off-speed pitch in his arsenal at present, showing some late
dive at 77 mph low in the zone. He spun his curveball between 65 and
68 mph with short break, slowing up his arm action on it just a bit.

Ryan
Johnson (2015, College Station,
Texas) generates very good bat speed from the left side with
strength, which translates into big power to his pull side. However
Johnson showed the ability to go with a pitch to hit the ball hard to
the opposite field in his first at-bat yesterday, lining a ball into
the left-center field gap for a standup double. A well proportioned
6-foot-3, 205-pound athlete, Johnson moves well for his size (6.86
60-yard dash), and what helps that speed play up in game is his
ability to read pitches in the dirt and take the next base, as he did
yesterday.
There’s
no denying the strength in the 6-foot-6 build of Luken Baker
(2015, Spring, Texas) who is a primary righthanded pitcher who
topped out at 94 mph with his fastball in Friday's outing. Baker
showed just how strong he was on Saturday with the bat, turning on a
fastball and putting it over the 335-foot mark on the left field
fence, despite a strong wind blowing straight in.

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